Don't Forget to Care
by The Traveling Aria
Summary: A different twist on the wrong boy who lived. Serena is babysitting five year old Harry and one year old Charles when Voldemort attacks. And when Charles is picked as the boy-who-lived over Harry, who saved her from the killing curse by allowing it to hit him, Serena takes Harry to raise him away from his hateful family. Fluer/Harry OC/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! My first story. Hope you like it**

**xxxxxx**

It was Halloween when Lily and James Potter decided that they were due for a night out. Dumbledore had made the decision that it would be safe enough to hire a muggle babysitter and simply obliviate her when the night was over. Both parents were reluctant to leave their precious Charles, but knew that they needed a short break.

After a lot of consideration they chose Serena, a thirteen year old genius and daughter of one of Lily's family friends. Serena already had a master's degree in science and business from Oxford. She also had a black belt in Muay Thai. The only reason that Serena was doing this job, was as a favor to Lily, who was always a role model to Serena.

There was one thing, however, that neither the Potters, nor Dumbledore had considered. This was that Serena was so smart that she had figured out that there was magic and wizards in the world, and that Lily and James were indeed magical. She had even figured out that someone else who was magical, was probably after the Potters for some reason. So, Serena knew to be quite on guard during this babysitting job.

Happy to finally be able to go out, Lily, James, Remus, and Sirius went out for the night. But before leaving, Lily made sure to explain a few things to Serena.

"Make sure to take care of Charles. If anything happens, hide him and call me or James immediately." Lily said frantically while gesturing to a giggling one year old in the corner. When she did this, only Serena noticed the hurt look to flash over five year old Harry's face.

"And take care of Harry too, right?" Serena said, prompting Lily to remember her older son. A look of disdain flashed over her face when she remembered what she liked to refer to as 'The Accident'. But, not wanting to look bad to Serena, she just gave a small nod, a tight-lipped smile and left.

Confused by this erratic behavior from Lily, she turned to Harry. Serena hadn't seen a lot of Lily since she was ten and Lily was seventeen. But, the few times she did see Lily, she always got the impression that she loved both of her sons very much.

However, the proof of this falsehood stood before Serena's very eyes. Harry had dark messy hair and emerald green eyes. Serena smiled when she noticed that Harry could probably pass as her brother. They had similar features except for his messy hair was black, whereas Serena's was simply dark brown. And Harry's startling green eyes contrasted with Serena's equally startling blue eyes.

Looking past Harry's features, Serena noticed that Harry also looked underfed and was dressed in old patched clothing. There was also what looked like an old bruise on his wrist. Seeing this, Serena was furious. She could recognize what looked like child abuse and in no way condoned it.

When she turned her head to Charles, she could see that he was dressed to the nines in baby clothing and looked quite chubby. She also sneered at the dumb look in his hazel eyes. She noted that Charles had fiery red hair. Serena didn't want to believe this abuse and favoritism, but was too smart to look past it. She vowed to have a long talk with Lily and possibly child protection services.

"Hi Harry, how are you doing tonight? I can already tell that we are going to have a lot of fun!" Serena said cheerfully. Harry looked surprised, but then got a cold look on his face.

"I know you don't want to actually talk to me. Just play with Charles like everyone else." Harry said in a surprisingly mature way. Serena was sad that he already acted so grown up, but at the same time she was delighted to see another genius like herself in him.

"Charles looks perfectly fine playing with that carrot. And I think that it's his bed time anyways. I also think that I need to talk to you about how life is here." Harry looked surprised and got a look of childlike wonderment on his face. She knew to cherish that look because it probably never happens. So, turning, Serena picked Charles up, carried him to his luxurious room, changed his diaper, and put him to bed.

When she went back downstairs she found Harry in the kitchen, sitting with very good posture in one of the chairs. "Have you had dinner yet?" Serena asked kindly. To that, Harry shook his head and looked sad. "Well then, we can talk while I get you some," Serena responded, which made Harry look hopeful. This look made Serena even angrier with Lily. Did she never feed the boy? This anger increased when she noticed that there was no cooked food left out for anyone other than what Charles had just finished eating. "How often do your parents feed you?" The question came softy.

"There are usually leftovers from breakfast and lunch. But Lily and James usually have Sirius and Remus over for dinner, and there aren't any leftovers then. And they are not my parents. They don't treat me like they are, so I refuse to refer to them as such," Harry said with sadness and a touch of contempt. Serena nodded understandingly. She herself had an absentee father named Bill who, even though he had wanted to build a relationship, she refused to call him by anything other than his first name.

"I understand. Do you like pasta?" Serena asked to which Harry nodded. "Good, it's one of the only things I know how to make. And I promise you that whenever I am here I will pay attention to you and make sure that you eat!" Harry looked a bit skeptical but nodded again.

Harry and Serena talked about everything from his life with the Potters to hopes and dreams they both had. Talking to Harry made Serena understand why many people were disconcerted when they talked to her that the age of five. It was unusual to have such an intelligent conversation with one so young.

When it was around 9:30 Serena sent Harry upstairs to brush his teeth while she cleaned up and did the dishes. While she was cleaning a pan, she heard the front door smash and immediately knew that whoever was after the Potters had arrived. Serena used the layout of the house to come up behind the strange snakelike man and hit him upside the head with the pan she was just cleaning, while he was in the hall outside of Harry and Charles rooms.

The only thing keeping Voldemort from being knocked out by what he deemed to be the ferocious, filthy muggle were his horcruxes. But unfortunately, Serena was only thirteen and despite being a black belt in Muay Thai, Voldemort soon overpowered her and cast the killing curse on her.

Harry was watching from the bathroom and seeing what was about to happen, ran and intercepted the curse with his own body. Despite only knowing Serena for a couple of hours, he had already grown to care for her. He couldn't let the one person who was nice to him die. The backlash of magic killed Voldemort and had an interesting effect on Serena, which she wouldn't notice until help arrived. This magic also caused a small explosion that made the house begin to fall apart. When the house was falling apart, some debris hit Charles on the way down and created his famous crest-shaped star on his collar bone.

**xxxxx**

**I always appreciate reviews and constructive criticism. **


	2. Chapter 2

When Lily and James felt the wards around their house break, they were in a panic. The only thoughts in their heads were of making sure that their dear Charles was safe. Lily even thought of how it was all her fault that poor Serena had probably died because she had decided to be selfish and go out. There was also the small lingering hope in both James and Lily's mind that Serena and Charles had survived and that young Harry had not.

The reason she called Harry 'The Accident' is because he was one. It was the night before graduation when she had the most romantic time of her life with James. Then, nine months later, a little boy was born. At first, James and Lily were ecstatic! They viewed Harry as the incarnation of their love.

But there was still so much that the seventeen year olds wanted to do, that did not include a baby. They wanted to see the world and become rich and famous! These plans were put on hold with the addition of a baby. Their child also made them shunned by some groups because he was born out of wedlock. All of these problems started fights between the two school sweethearts.

The two Griffindors soon began to resent Harry more and more, before they simply started ignoring him at the age of two. By ignoring him, Lily and James' relationship got better. They were also able to travel and start their dream careers. But they did this at the expense of Harry's health. If he weren't smart enough to be able to get the leftovers and fend for himself, Harry probably would have died and no one would have noticed.

When Lily and James were twenty-one and had their reputation back, they got married and promptly had Charles on the exact day they had Harry. The couple doted on Charles and most people had forgotten that Harry had even existed. Lily was happy to simply forget about Harry, but James' temper got even worse with Harry to the point of sometimes hitting or slapping him.

Harry remembered these beatings as he lay unconscious under some drywall. A large part of him hoped that he would die soon so that he could be somewhere happy. The only regret he was feeling was that he didn't know what happened to Serena. But, then again, he didn't know her too well and she would probably forget him just like everyone else.

Serena slowly began waking up to the sound of shrill crying and footsteps. She opened her eyes to see a bunch of people in what looked like frumpy, black bathrobes surrounding Charles. Seeing the boy, Serena immediately began to panic because she couldn't see Harry.

Right then, Lily saw Serena and rushed to her. "Are you OK? I know that you must be so confused! I am so sorry this, it's all my fault!" Lily said sobbing. Before, Serena would have tried to comfort Lily, but know all she felt was anger. Plus, her head hurt and the wailing of both Lily and Charles was making it worse.

"Where's Harry?" Serena asked blearily, even though she knew that they probably hadn't even bothered to look for him.

"Do you not even care about Charles at all? I know that you're _just _a muggle, but even you should realize how important he is. Especially now that he has done the impossible. Charles is the Boy-Who-Lived!" Lily yelled in Serena's face. Serena on her part stayed perfectly calm. She didn't know what muggle meant but could guess from the connotation. And knowing that she shouldn't waste her time arguing with Lily, Serena simply stood up and began carefully looking for Harry.

After a couple of minutes she finally found the green eyed boy. But as she was picking him up and checking him over for injuries, an old man began talking to her. "I know that you must be scared and confused, but I need you to tell me exactly what happened tonight," he said with watery eyes.

Serena explained how she attacked Voldemort with a pan, but he amazingly didn't get knocked out and overpowered her. Then she talked about how he made a green light appear that hit Harry when he saved her life. Serena made sure to sound as freaked out as possible and not let any indication that she had known about magic all along out. Who knows what damage they could do to her mind to keep their secret.

Dumbledore smiled down condescendingly at the girl. He knew that this couldn't be the real story because Charles had been the one to defeat Voldemort. He tried to get the real story by using legitimency on the muggle, but found that he couldn't find her mind! It was like she wasn't even there. Dumbledore was quite confused because even with a master occlomence, you could feel the wall around the mind.

But he quickly brushed it off in favor of finding out the truth. "I know that what happened was very traumatic, but I need you to tell me what really happened. I know that you couldn't have possibly been able to hit that man with a frying pan, and I also know that it was Charles that was hit with that 'strange green light.'" Dumbledore said while Serena felt more anger build up. If the people here weren't careful and wouldn't let her treat Harry, she would make them regret it.

"I know what I saw! I have a photographic memory. And if you're too stupid to know what that means, it means that I can remember absolutely everything with perfect clarity!" Serena yelled. Did they think that she was a halfwit?

"Do not speak to him that way! You are to treat Professor Dumbledore with respect! I know that your mother taught you better!" Lily scolded.

"You have no right to tell me about respect! You people won't even let me look over Harry to make sure that he's okay! With the way you are abusing him, he will have some major issues when he's older! And you will turn Charles into a pompous brat with the way you spoil him! I mean look at his room compared to Harry's!" Serena ranted while gesturing to the two very differently sized, ruined rooms,

Lily saw red. "You have no right to speak to me or my family that way! From this point on, I will no longer consider you like a little sister! You are just as bad as Petunia! Albus, you need to obliviate her so that I never have to deal with her again. She is never coming near Charles ever again." Serena's mind worked madly at Lily's statement. She was sad at the loss of friendship that had just happened with Lily. But Serena was more worried about what obliviate meant. From the Greek meaning, Serena could guess that it was a spell meant to make her forget.

As quickly as she could, Serena picked up the still sleeping Harry and tried to make a run for it. But before she knew it, two huge men were blocking her. Serena knew that she was severely outnumbered but still tried to fight her way out, with Harry in her arms. However, within minutes, the Order of the Pheonix members took Harry and pinned Serena down.

Serena screamed and struggled yelling for them to let her go. She even yelled Harry's name because of her sorrow at the thought of forgetting him. Albus walked up, gruffly held her head still and cast the spell. Then, he roughly pushed her down.

"Done," Dumbledore said soothingly to Lily and James. All the while Serena was in shock. Were some of her memories missing? She could still remember the hours with Harry and the fight with Voldemort. Her mind was set up so that she could tell there wasn't a single gap in her set if memories. But, not wanting for them to try something else while she was outnumbered, she pretended to be unconscious.

Harry felt a tear slip down his cheek. He was woken up by Serena's shouts and recognized the spell they cast on her from a book he had read. He felt the same connection to her as she felt to him. He knew that she didn't want to forget to him, but his least favorite person, Dumbledore, forced her to. Harry felt a pair of arms carelessly pick him up and passed out again as he was disapparated.

Serena panicked when she saw Harry disappear. She couldn't let those people abuse Harry more than they already had! Picking herself up and feeling slightly dizzy, Serena rushed to her house. How dare those wizards just leave her on the floor! But her thoughts were cloudy as blood was escaping a gash from Serena's head. Why didn't she notice the blood before? Serena wondered during her long track home. She remembered that it was over three miles to the nearest store.

As she walked and tried to stop the blood flow from her head, Serena came up with a plan to get Harry away from his hateful family. She also thought about simply calling the police on them for abuse so that they wouldn't be able to ruin Charles as well. But there was a reason no one knew about wizards and Serena didn't want to risk them finding out that she still retained her memories. That was something that confused Serena. Why _did _she still remember? Based on their assurance that she had forgotten, Serena knew that most people did forget. Serena knew that it was a problem for another time. Her first concern had to be Harry.

Serena finally reached a 24-hour gas station and used the concerned cashiers phone to call a cab. Serena didn't want to worry her mom, or alert her that something was wrong. Her mom had enough to worry about without putting her in danger from these wizards.

After the cab ride back to her house, Serena snuck into the house. Suddenly there was a crash and the sound of something breaking. She ran up to see a man in the black robes and a mask disappearing. Serena felt her heart break when she saw her sweet mom lying on the ground, looking blankly up at the ceiling. Just to be sure, Serena felt for a pulse that wasn't there and fell apart.

All she could think was that this was her fault. She would never see her Mom's smile again. She would never be able to make their special waffles with her mom ever again. She could never even tell her mom that she loved her again. In the distance, she heard the strange keening sound, only to realize that she was the one making it. But Serena couldn't stop. She hugged her mother's body to her and stayed like that for the rest of the night; lost in memories and feelings of guilt and anguish.

**Xxxxxx**

**Sorry about the sad note I'm leaving this on! But I will update soon, maybe even tomorrow! I can't believe that so many people have favorited my story and added it onto their alerts! It makes me really happy! And shout out to my first reviewer, thank you! I always love reviews and ideas on what you want to happen in the story. If I like it, I will make it happen and give you a shout out! Love you guys!**

**Aria**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Serena only snapped out of her sorrow induced stupor, when the morning sunlight fell onto her face. Serena put her mom onto a comfortable looking position on the floor. Then, with a last look, she headed to her room.

Serena could deduce that the wizard may have been after her, and without the means of protecting herself, she knew that she would have to disappear. From what she gathered, the non-magical people held no importance to the magical community. But on the other hand, these people are dangerous and cannot be underestimated.

There was also the issue of how to get Harry away from those people and take the Potter's down. The blue-eyed girl felt a twinge of resentment at the fact that a wizard killed her mom and Harry was a wizard himself. But, Serena quickly squashed that down. It was one or a group of people who were cruel. Just because all of them were mean didn't mean that everything magical was bad; especially not Harry.

While packing essentials into a duffel bag, Serena began to plan. She couldn't keep the last name of Thomas and quickly decided on Waldorf instead. Serena Waldorf sounded perfect. She also gathered all of the cash in the house, along with anything valuable that she could find. Her thoughts paused when her eyes came upon a simple silver and emerald ring that Serena remembered as her mother's favorite. A lone tear slipped from the girl's eye when she slipped it on her finger and vowed never to take it off.

Serena called the police and let the phone ring as she left the house. Someone as amazing as her mother couldn't be left to rot for who knows how long, until the body was found. She quickly walked to the bus station and went to a cheap motel in London. After leaving her motel room, Serena went to a sketchy pawn shop and sold everything except her emerald ring.

A couple thousand dollars heavier, she made her way to an electronics store and bought the most high tech computer she could find.

Not wanting to be recognized, Serena quickly went back to her room and put the beginning steps of her plan into action. First, Serena hacked into Oxfords student records and changed her last name to Waldorf. Serena worked hard for her diplomas and refused to simply leave them behind with her old identity.

Serena knew that not many people could double major in science and business and that many companies could use her expertise. The only issue is that no one would want to hire a thirteen year old. Frustrated on how to get over that obstacle, Serena looked at herself in the mirror. Tired blue eyes stared back. Then her eyes moved to her braid. Serena had always hated having to deal with her hair, so ever since she was seven, she would either braid it or put it in a ponytail.

Shaking the hair loose, made it come down to her butt. Knowing that such long hair was noticeable, Serena searched the drawers for a pair of scissors. Finding them, she cut the hair so that it merely went down to the bottom of her shoulder blades. Carefully maneuvering the scissors, Serena also gave herself some fringe that she thought looked a bit edgy.

Now when Serena saw herself, she could hardly see a resemblance to how she used to look. There was now a haunted look in her eyes that made them seem even icier. And although Serena didn't like dealing with her hair, she had to admit that it definitely changed how she looked. She doubted Lily would recognize her at a glance with the new haircut. Especially because Lily hadn't seen Serena's hair down since Serena was seven.

Feeling slightly safer, Serena decided to explore London a bit. Not trusting the shady motel, Serena took her laptop and money with her in a backpack. As Serena was window shopping, she noticed a cafe that had never been there when she visited London in the past. What alarmed her further was both the name of the place, along with the people in the familiar black robes.

Serena put on a pair of aviators to further mask her face. She knew that it was a risk to go anywhere near these people, but determination to find Harry spurred her onward. When Serena walked into The Leaky Cauldron, she realized that putting the sunglasses on was pointless. Everyone inside was either very drunk or passed out.

Suddenly, someone grabbed her hand as she was walking through the place. "Hurray to Charles Potter! The Boy-Who-Lived! Defeater of You-Know-Who!" The man slurred loudly which caused others to cheer drunkenly. Pulling her hand free, she inspected the drunken man. They were all celebrating a lie! Charles never went near the snake-man! It was Harry who had taken the spell for her!

Trying to fish for more information about where more wizard areas were without sounding suspicious, Serena said, "Yes! Charles is amazing! But where can I buy a cauldron?" She assumed that there were such things as cauldrons, based on the name of the place.

"Muggle-born ehh? Did you melt your last one? Well I might as well let you into Diagon Alley seeing as it looks like you're a bit lost," the man mumbled. Serena was relieved that he was so drunk, because she knew that there would probably be more questions otherwise.

As the man was leading her to the back of the pub, Serena wondered why none of the other people outside had seemed to notice The Leaky Cauldron. But the two of them were stopped outside a stone wall and Serena had to push the question back, next to why Dumbledore's forgetting spell didn't work on her.

The man took out a wooden stick that Serena assumed was a wand and tapped some stones. When the wall moved out of the way, Serena was shocked by what it revealed. It appeared to a mall of some sort, but things impossible to science were happening everywhere she looked!

Everyone in the place called Diagon Alley seemed to be celebrating Charles' defeat over the snake-man. Serena felt some anger at that, but it was overshadowed by awe and delight. Quickly ditching the man, who looked to have forgotten her anyways, Serena rushed into a clothing store. She planned to buy some of those ugly robes so that she wouldn't stick out. In the store, Serena was greeted by an extremely happy Madam Malkin who offered her a selection of robes.

Pointing at what Serena deemed to be the least cumbersome design, she asked "How many pounds will this be?"

"I'm sorry darling; I assumed that you would already know this at your age! But most shops don't take muggle money, only galleons!" Madam Malkin said while producing what looked to be a large solid gold coin. "You will have to go to the bank, Gringotts, and exchange the money before you can buy anything," Malkin explained while giving Serena a weird look. After getting directions to the bank Serena set off.

Then, an idea struck Serena. This idea was so big that it could shake the wizarding world and make her rich and famous. The best part of this idea was that it could mean rescuing Harry.

**Xxxxxx**

The Potters had moved back to James' ancestral home and was currently setting up a search for the traitor, Peter Pettigrew. Well, he was doing that when he wasn't basking in the fame of his son. He couldn't have been prouder of his son for defeating Voldemort.

Charles, on his part didn't know why people were treating him even better than before. Now he didn't even have to start fake crying to get something. Everything was available to him at a blink of an eye.

Lily was happier than she had ever been. The scandal of Harry was completely forgotten by absolutely everyone, when it came out that Charles was the Boy-Who-Lived. Lily soaked up the fame and attention like a sponge. Not many people would be able to resist instant fame and Lily was no different.

Meanwhile, Harry was still recovering from exerting so much magic. When he was apparated back to the mansion, he was put into a small room in the servant's (house elves') wing and was promptly forgotten. If he had been looked over, like he should have been, the healers would have realized that exerting so much magic at such a young age had damaged his core. But, no one cared enough to check what could have easily been fixed. This mistake will make young Harry go a much different path (with the help of a certain muggle), and would make everyone who wronged him regret it dearly.

**XXXXX**

**Thank you guys for all of the comments! They really made my day. And the first person to tell me what reference I made in this chapter concerning Serena changing ****_something _****about herself will be PMed a small spoiler on who Serena will be paired with. Also the first person to guess (based off of what I've written so far) how Harry's sacrifice affected Serena, will be given the same spoiler. **


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